Rep. Burgess to Newsmax: Obamacare Panel ‘Terrible Concept’

Rep. Michael Burgess says he expects a bill to repeal the 15-member Independent Advisory Payment Board to sail through the House after gaining bipartisan support in a subcommittee vote last week.

The Texas Republican, who is also a physician, told Newsmax.TV the board needs to be defeated because “ it can essentially practice medicine without a license, across state lines. Doctors and patients really forfeit a lot of power to this group, that I would point out, is not elected and not accountable to anyone.”

Story continues below video.

When asked about the 16 Democrats who have joined to cosponsor the bill, Burgess said: “They recognize how just how devastatingly bad it is and now they are wanting, if nothing else, political cover for their bad votes when they voted in favor of the affordable care act in March of 2010.”

The Independent Advisory Payment Board was created as part of President Barack Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Its purpose is to review medical decisions and make cost-cutting recommendations for Medicare and Medicaid.

“This is a board of unelected individuals appointed by the president, yes confirmed by the senate, but once they are there — they’re there. And there is very little accountability,” Burgess said.

“They will be able to say when you get your care, how you get your care, where you get your care, and most importantly — when you’ve had enough.

Burgess said when he first read Obama’s healthcare reform law, including a description of the Independent Advisory Payment Board, medical expertise was obviously not a priority

“Okay, where’s the doctor? Oh — not until the next to the last line.”

“It shows where they were coming from. They want to put all the eggheads in charge, and none of the people who are actually in charge of delivering the care — they really don’t want them there making to darn decisions.

“It’s not about the practice of good medicine or even the practice of cost effective medicine. It’s about controlling the use of medicine by controlling the purse strings,” Burgess said.

The repeal bill for the Independent Advisory Payment Board should put a lot of pressure on the Senate as Republicans continue their attempts to dismantle Obamacare piece by piece and the Supreme Court gets ready to weigh in on its constitutionality, Burgess said.

When asked about the so called Blunt Amendment that recently recently failed in the Senate, Burgess said: “I support the goals of Sen. Blunt and Sen. Rubio . . . but here’s the deal, for the first time we have a fine on faith in this country.”

“We do have a Constitution and a Bill of Rights that is supposed to protect us from the excesses of central federal government.”

“Secretary [Kathleen] Sebilius and President Obama are demonstrating, better than anyone ever could, why this protection was necessary.”